mardi, octobre 25, 2005
life goes easy on me most of the time
When I was living in Mom & Dalt's basement, I would sometimes wake up early and tiptoe next door to Keri and Gina's place, knowing that with three young kids in the house, somebody would be awake. The door is usually unlocked, so I let myself in, and when I peak around the corner from the front door into the livingroom, there is usually at least one kid watching morning shows. Sometimes there's a Gina or a Keri there too, looking bleary-eyed and barely awake.
Sometimes I help get breakfast for the kids. Sometimes one of them is already eating and I join them at the table. Sometimes I snuggle up on the couch with one of them. Sometimes I steal coffee from the kitchen.
These days I don't get to visit so much, not living at the compound anymore, where you don't even need to get out of your pyjamas to go next door. But Sunday morning I was wide awake early and I felt like getting out, so I hopped in Fred and drove the three minutes over to the compound. Kyle and Ella were watching TV, but nobody else was up yet. Eventually Keri got up and started getting breakfast for everyone. I sat with the kids at the table and helped Ella peel an orange.
At one point she looked up and said to me, "Stace, my nose is running". It might sound strange, but coming from a two-and-a-half year-old, I found this observation rather endearing. It felt like Ella was seeing me as something of a substitute parent figure, which is really a nice feeling. I mean, hopefully she's not running around asking any old stranger to wipe her nose for her...(maybe she is...)
This touching moment resulted in me catching Ella's cold, though. Keri mentioned that she'd been up in the night because she was quite ill, and although she didn't seem too bad to me, she seems to have passed on her illness. So I'm all sniffly and sore throat-y now. No fun. Not when I'm trying to figure out our "accruals"; part of my job is to track department expenses. I'm all doped up on Motrin and Contact C.
I think the moral of the story is this: watch out for those runny-nosed kids, man. They're all precious and heartwarming, but you'll pay the price later... | ¶ 4:54 p.m.
Sometimes I help get breakfast for the kids. Sometimes one of them is already eating and I join them at the table. Sometimes I snuggle up on the couch with one of them. Sometimes I steal coffee from the kitchen.
These days I don't get to visit so much, not living at the compound anymore, where you don't even need to get out of your pyjamas to go next door. But Sunday morning I was wide awake early and I felt like getting out, so I hopped in Fred and drove the three minutes over to the compound. Kyle and Ella were watching TV, but nobody else was up yet. Eventually Keri got up and started getting breakfast for everyone. I sat with the kids at the table and helped Ella peel an orange.
At one point she looked up and said to me, "Stace, my nose is running". It might sound strange, but coming from a two-and-a-half year-old, I found this observation rather endearing. It felt like Ella was seeing me as something of a substitute parent figure, which is really a nice feeling. I mean, hopefully she's not running around asking any old stranger to wipe her nose for her...(maybe she is...)
This touching moment resulted in me catching Ella's cold, though. Keri mentioned that she'd been up in the night because she was quite ill, and although she didn't seem too bad to me, she seems to have passed on her illness. So I'm all sniffly and sore throat-y now. No fun. Not when I'm trying to figure out our "accruals"; part of my job is to track department expenses. I'm all doped up on Motrin and Contact C.
I think the moral of the story is this: watch out for those runny-nosed kids, man. They're all precious and heartwarming, but you'll pay the price later... | ¶ 4:54 p.m.
